Apple can be so annoying sometimes. Case in point: The Macbook is barely four months old and already it is twice removed from the latest version. Granted, the new Macbook looks exactly like my Macbook, but it has been considerably beefed up since the last release.

I didn't mind the initial hardware bump (from 2.0GHz to 2.2GHz) that I missed by a few days because The Macbook came with a 15k yen discount (roughly 6k pesos). But this new upgrade just adds so much overall it's no longer funny. For starters, you get a processor speed bump from 2.2Ghz to 2.4Ghz. Then, for mid-range white books, you get an additional 40Gb of hard disk space; 90 if you have the black book. AND a freaking extra gig of RAM. For the same price!!! How unfair is that!?! Again, Apple can be so annoying sometimes.

Having said that, I still love The Macbook, even if it's a few bumps away from becoming a "classic." And I am still wanting that Time Capsule. And the 32Gb iPod touch. Annoying as Apple is, it does deliver.

There are two types of dirt: black dirt, which is attracted to white objects, and white dirt, which is attracted to black objects. The Macbook attracts both - white on the screen, black on everything else. Anyway, the obsessive-compulsive maniac in me has already invested in a horde of cleaners to keep the Macbook clean - I went as far as hiring Hello Kitty to do the keyboard cleaning. But the inevitable has happened - the Macbook is slightly dirty. In fact, if you tilt it at a certain angle against the light and position it a few inches from your face you would actually notice some buildup of dirt on a couple of keys. Oh, the horror.

Now I did some research and came up with a couple of ways to clean a white Macbook.

1. Run it under tap water for a few minutes. Then go get yourself a Macbook Air. Don't forget the Manila Mac. Or, you can place it in the dishwasher, and then buy an iMac instead. Feel free to improvise as you go along. This is obviously a joke and should you decide to actually follow it, I hope to God you have the budget for a new Mac.

2. Roll a strip of adhesive tape around your index finger, and run it lightly along the spaces between the keys. Now this is for real, and it helps in removing lint-like things that like to show up in those small crevices.

3. Staedtler eraser. This I haven't tried, but apparently it works well in removing smudges on your Mac. But I don't appreciate it generating white dirt in the process (which will either enter the keyboard crevices or invade the screen).

4. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Apparently, this is the best there is. The problem is, I can't get my hands on it. (Can anyone tell me where I can get this in the Philippines? Or better yet, can anyone get me a pack or two?) So I settled for some copycat from 3M. Basically it's a sponge with miraculous properties that are activated upon contact with water. So you wet the sponge, wring out the excess water, and wipe away. And it actually works! It even got rid of the dirt that accumulated on the edges of the keyboard cover that I have been trying to wipe off for years! Well, months, actually, because the Macbook is not even a year old. But you get the picture. Happy cleaning.

The judges: moi, and two other Coke drinkers from The Office (boyfriend was disqualified because his opinions differ from ours),

The results: Coke classic - the classic (supposedly) top-secret Coke recipe. Coke light - light on the taste. It's like watered-down Coke. Or soda-watered down Coke. Coke zero - zero taste, zero carbonation (is there such a word?). It's what you get when you add some sugar to Coke light and then leave the bottle open for half a day.

The sweeteners: Coke classic - good old sugar. Coke light and Coke zero - combination of aspartame and acesulfame pottasium. Aspartame is rumored to be carcinogenic and is linked to the formation of brain tumors. It can also stimulate the appetite and trigger craving for carbs, so it may actually bring in the pounds instead of keeping them away.

The verdict: I heart my full-fat Coke. Preferably in an ice bag with a plastic straw a la sari-sari store.

This moving thing is creating quite a big dent in my wallet. Apparently my tiny tiny room with the new bed has some space left for a tiny tiny cabinet to contain my junk. The original plan was to buy a plastic set of drawers, but I saw this wooden closet for kids and it was so neat so I decided to get that instead. The problem was I had to assemble it myself. So I had to drag the boyfriend to my tiny tiny room to help me assemble the tiny tiny cabinet. It took us quite some time to finish because the first time we interchanged the top and bottom part so we had to redo the entire thing. What can I say, we weren't made for manual labor. For the record, the darned thing didn't come with instructions, and we were quite successful in the end. The boyfriend insisted I take a picture with him inside because he helped pick it out and schlepp it to the house and assemble it (twice).

After months of scheming and planning, the Moleskine has finally arrived. I would have gotten this months ago if only The Office allowed personal deliveries. I have tried everything from scouring the bookstores for any remaining stock to convincing friends who worked for nicer, more lenient companies to receive the delivery for me, to finally resorting to having it delivered to the boyfriend's house (of course now he wouldn't stop nagging me about spending too much money for a tiny tiny notebook). Now if only I could find the perfect pen to write on a Moleskine with...

Or at least that's the hope. Apple released a major update of Leopard (10.5.2) which promises, among other things, to "resolve certain kernel panics" associated with the Airport card.

I have had three kernel panics so far (Nish, the Macbook, is a bit over three months old), and all are Airport-card related, from the very little that I could gather from the panic logs. If you're running Leopard, you can view your panic logs in /Library/Logs/PanicReporter.

Apparently the Macbook is not so cozy with non-Apple routers (which is a good justification for buying a Time Capsule). I am unable to replicate the kernel panics, though, and it has been driving me nuts (the inability to reproduce the error, not the error itself - it's the dv engineer in me).

Anyway, I hope I won't be seeing the black screen of horror anytime soon, or else it's a trip to the Apple store for me.

I developed this really nasty case of bed bug bites - and I don't even have a bed to begin with. How unfair is that?

For the past couple of months I have been sleeping on the floor, on the mattress carried over from my dorm days. And the past couple of weeks random appendages just started swelling up - first the fingers on my left hand and then my entire right arm. I was the office freak again - people would approach me and ask if they can take a look at my freak fingers. The last time this happened was when I had subconjunctival hemorrhage, but that didn't hurt so it was cool.

So anyway, I figured it's time I get a real bed. So last weekend I went ahead and bought one. I had no idea it would be so expensive - the bed, the mattress, the pillows, and the new pretty sheets (I got a little carried away). They delivery truck came by today, and after a lot of moving and hammering and cleaning up, I moved into this tiny tiny room with a brand new bed with brand new pillows and brand new sheets. And I have been spraying the entire room like crazy, so I seriously hope the bed bugs stay away this time.

I find myself strangely attracted to the Powershot G9. It looks so old-school, like one of those wind-up analog cameras, and it kinda grows on you. In fact, it has grown on me so much that my emotional quotient is back to negative ten. I guess the iPod touch would have to wait. Or maybe not.

I work for a top-secret, bad-ass company. That is why we are not allowed to bring cameras or any image-capturing device (like frog or human retinas) inside the company premises. Likewise, we are not allowed food deliveries nor are we allowed to discuss our work with anyone. We are also tucked away in some remote corner of the universe, and if you stand outside the building you will not find the company name because, well, it's not displayed for others to see, because we do not want the world to know where we are situated. In fact, to enter the company premises, we have to flick our magic identification cards and whisper the secret incantation and suddenly, the building splits into two and a magic door emerges in the middle and we are given exactly two minutes to enter, but not before we leave our cameras and storage devices (including paper, that primitive information storage device) with the security guard secret-keeper, who has never been inside the premises (only once, during his interview ordination). And what goes on inside I can never ever tell anyone, and in the event that I slip, I would have to perform a clean sweep of the other person's memory so he doesn't remember.

It's quite hard to say no when your mouth is gaping open with this tube inserted underneath your tongue. To her credit, the dentist was nice and pretty and she hums happily while poking at my mouth with steel instruments. She also did a consultation, prophylaxis, and three fillings in one 30-minute session. Way to earn a living.

Anyway, as luck would have it, last Monday I chipped one of the fillings off while eating a chocolate bar, of all things. So now I have to go back to the humming dentist. These things should come with a warranty, don't you think?